[stanwich]

I just had my dish upgraded to the slimline 5-lnb today, but the installer refused to upgrade my multi-switch from the Zinwell 4803 to the WB68.

Should I raise a stink? If so, with whom (D* or the install company)?

What will I be missing out on (and when) if I don't upgrade the multi-switch. My setup included 4 receivers.

Thanks in advance for any responses...

 

[litzdog911]

Crazy. Yes, raise a stink. The Zinwell WB68 is the multiswitch required for proper switching of the new Ka-band (MPEG4 HD) satellites. Of course, that's only relevant if you have an H20 HD Receiver or HR20 HD DVR, or plan to get one in the future. What receivers did you get?

 

[stanwich]

I have one H20 and 3 standard def receivers.

Has D* officially gone on record that the WB68 is required with the slimline dish? If not, I doubt it will do any good to call them. I guess I'll call the install company Monday and see if I can get anywhere with them.

 

[Earl Bonovich]

Most definently raise a stink.
The 4803 is not compatible with any 5LNB dish, for the 99 and 103 SATS

WB68 is the "official" multiswitch for the 5LNB

The only other two are larger ones, one from Zinwell that is a 16 port, that is about $300. and some spauns that are even more expensive.


What type of recievers where they though?
If they where all non-DVRs... then the installer was not "required" to install a multiswitch. (He should have), but since you would only be using 4 feeds.. .they where not "required" too.

 

[stanwich]

Earl, I have one H20, one R15, and 2 non-DVR standard def receivers. But the R15 only has one feed going to it (due to trouble running a second wire).

The work order yesterday was originally supposed to be a dish upgrade plus a receiver upgrade from the R15 to the HR20. But several days before the installer arrived, I decided to go with the H20 (which I got from Circuit City) instead of the HR20 (and just move the R15 to another tv). So I guess that's why he wouldn't upgrade the multi-switch.

Are the 99 and 103 sats up now? What is (or will be) on them? How much can I order a WB68 for?

Thanks

 

[bobnielsen]

Since you only have four cables, it makes sense that they wouldn't supply a WB68. If you feel that you really must have one, here's a source: http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=WB68.

The first two satellites at 99 and 101 have been up for a while, supplying spotbeam-only feeds of HD locals and RSNs for a limited number of markets. Two additional satellites at these positions will be added this year, supplying additional locals as well as national channels (presumably all MPEG4 HD).

 

[stanwich]

Just got off the phone with D*, where I got bounced around to 3 or 4 techs who acted like they had never heard of a WB68 multi-switch before. Finally I ended up with a confident gentleman who assured me that the 4803 was fully compatible with the slimline 5-lnb and would handle the feeds from sats 99 and 103. He also stated that the only reason to upgrade ANY multi-switch was if you ran out of outputs on your current multi-switch.

Finally, he told me that sometime within the 1st half of 2007 that my locals would be available (I'm in the Jackson, MS market) and they should just start coming in automatically. But in the rare event that they don't, he informed me how to go through a guided setup to scan for and start pulling the 99 and 103 sats.

Oh well, I guess I'm stuck with the 4803 for now. This entire upgrade to HD has been a comedy of errors on D*'s part (multiple billing snafu's), and I'm shocked at how uninformed the technicians are on technical issues.

 

[bobnielsen]

I can't find any specifications for the 4803, but possibly its performance over the 250-2150 MHz frequency range may not be adequate (previous to the 5 LNB dishes, only 950-1450 MHz was used). It may work fine, or there may be problems which might not show up until Directv 10 and 11 are functional, when the 250-750 range will be used). In any case, the multiswitch contained in the dish itself will be adequate for 4 cables, so you don't really need either a 4803 or a WB68.